SOLD: Hippohifi Bloat DAC/amp (w. OPA2107)

Well, I almost never use my laptop on the go, so I finally upgraded to a separate dac and amp, which means my old Hippohifi Bloat is available. I have the opamp upgrade to 2x OPA2107; the DAC chip is a PCM1798, and the color is black. DO A QUICK SEARCH on these chips, they are far better than the ones used in nearly any other sub-$400 dac/amp.

This is very consistent with the design philosophy of the Bloat: a tiny dac/amp using only high-end parts with no unnecessary components and powered directly from the USB port. Namely, the parts budget that in most amps is divided between volume pots, battery handling, extra jacks, fancy housing, extra controls, and sound-altering defeatable circuits, here is spent exclusively on the parts in the main amplification circuit. It sounds very fine, only a little behind my much more expensive home system, and can drive even high impedance headphones easily.

I'm asking $140 shipped SOLD within the US, a few dollars more for other countries. Near-mint condition, maybe 300 hours use; comes with 20" usb cable. MSRP is $206 shipped, and you'd have to wait for it to arrive from Australia.

best, FV

by the way, here is the homepage for the bloat, and a pic from that page, because I'm too lazy to photograph what is essentially a nondescript little black box.

I paste below the answer to some questions I received by pm:

-Volume control: since this is exclusively a laptop solution, the volume control thing has never been a problem for me. I just use the one on my media player.

It's part of Brent's aesthetic with the bloat, like that of a race car builder-- no added weight that doesn't make it go faster, or that takes money away from the main parts.

-Bass: I believe I was the one who posted that I found the bass light at first, because I had let my ear get used to the false bass of my previous laptop system. It's actually quite flat and extends very low. There are better choices if you like bass boost, but I no longer find it lacking at all.

-Comparison: the bloat slaughters any soundcard solution I've tried, including the echo indigo. It also easily beats my portable rig. To beat it, I had to get a Laconic Lunchbox with upgraded tubes and a Super Pro USB dac, a much bigger solution with two wall plugs. The strong suits of the Bloat are clarity and resolution, it's just a very strong, clean sound, and I'm still impressed how close it can come to my home system.

What I don't know is how it would fare up against the much-adored E-Mu 0404 USB, which can now be had a bit cheaper. For portable use, though, I don't think it can be beat at the price point for sheer sound quality.

best, FV

Natty Bumppo

price drop bump, now $165 shipped.

bump

come on, you know you've been wondering how the bloat sounds...

bump

bump and small price drop

bump and price drop one last time

bump

bump

yet again

now is the time